


As You Please

by Carmenlire



Series: Flufftober [10]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, Lazy Mornings, M/M, Shadowhunter Culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-29 08:52:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16260827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carmenlire/pseuds/Carmenlire
Summary: “What do you mean, the Institute will be empty today? What are you not telling me?”Magnus is beyond confused. As much as he loves Alec, his boyfriend has a tendency to be extremely oblivious about just how much Magnus doesn’t know about shadowhunters and their society. He’ll just say things like he expects Magnus to know all about it and just gets this blank look on his face when Magnus doesn’t follow.Or, Magnus learns another shadowhunter custom.





	As You Please

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Holiday

Sunlight streams through the open curtains and Magnus burrows deeper into the covers. It takes him a minute, mind still clinging to sleep, to figure out why something feels off.

Instead of a pillow, he’s hugging Alec. That wouldn’t be so unusual except that by the time it’s light outside, his boyfriend is always out of bed and usually out of their apartment altogether, off to the Institute at painfully early hours most days.

Sighing a little, Magnus squeezes Alec closer and kisses his chest in a silent apology for what he’s about to do. It’s only happened a couple of times, but whenever Magnus wakes Alec up, it’s like ice water’s been dumped on the both of them-- Alec jumps out of bed in a tizzy, flying through the loft to get ready in record time and there’s no way that Magnus can just sleep when he has his boyfriend’s giraffe ass running around the loft in a mild panic.

“Darling,” Magnus says, voice rough with residual sleep. He leans up on an elbow just enough to see the clock on the bedside table and winces once he sees the time. “It’s 8:43.”

If anything, Alec seems to sink deeper into the sheets, moving infinitesimally closer to Magnus. It’s adorable even as it’s a little exasperating. Magnus leans down until his lips are pressed to Alec’s ear.

“Alexander, love, I’m afraid you’re dreadfully late. You need to wake up.”

“No,” Alec mumbles. Raising a brow, Magnus pulls back enough to look at him. They’d gone to bed just before midnight; Alec shouldn’t be _that_ exhausted.

“Alec,” Magnus calls, firm. “Wake up.”

Frowning, Alec sighs with gusto before opening up one eye that seems to take more effort that he has. “What,” he asks peevishly.

“It’s almost nine in the morning on a Wednesday. Why are you still in bed?” A thought strikes Magnus and before he knows it, he’s placing the back of his hand on Alec’s forehead, gauging his temperature. “You’re not sick, are you?”

Alec closes his eye before turning to face away from Magnus, pulling the covers up to his chin. “I’m fine,” he says, talking through a yawn. “I’m not going in today, that’s all.”

“Alec, forgive me, but that is not _all_. I’ve never known you to miss a day at the Institute. What’s going on?”

Alec says something but Magnus can’t quite catch it, not with the way Alec’s not facing him and sleep is still slurring his speech.

“I’m sorry, what was that, darling?”

Alec huffs before rolling onto his back and shooting Magnus a glare at his interrupted sleep. “I said that the Institute is dead today. There’s no one there. I actually took today and tomorrow off, so let me sleep please. I’ll make us french toast in a couple of hours.”

He makes to turn back over but Magnus halts him before he can move, sitting up and caging him in from where he’s laying on his back and sending Magnus surly looks that look more like a kicked puppy denied his treat.

“What do you mean, the Institute is dead today? What are you not telling me?”

Magnus is beyond confused. As much as he loves Alec, he has a tendency to be extremely oblivious about just how much Magnus doesn’t know about shadowhunters and their culture. He’ll just say things like he expects Magnus to know all about it and just gets this blank look on his face when Magnus doesn’t follow.

It’d happened when he’d talked about breaking seven ribs during a practice field mission at the Academy when he was sixteen-- still finishing in first place without activating his iratze until the end-- again when he’d tried to explain the shadowhunter economy and how wealthy his family really was-- who knew that there were shadowhunters who dabbled in accounting and played the _stock market_ \-- and most recently whenever he’d casually mentioned that it was customary to surrender one’s second weapon of choice when visiting a shadowhunter’s home-- but not their primary weapon in case of an attack.

Truly, most of it seemed absurd and mostly baffling. Especially since Alec was a _Lightwood_ , an old, prestigious family name that dealt more in the formal traditions and rituals of the past.

Magnus stares at Alec, who just looks up at him with that empty expression like what he’s just said makes perfect sense. It’s much too early for Alec’s opaqueness and Magnus closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before opening them again.

“Alec, I don’t know why you’re home today and apparently tomorrow. Care to enlighten me?”

At last, the light bulb seems to go over his boyfriend’s head and he smiles sheepishly. “Shit, I just figured you knew but it had slipped your mind.”

Raising a brow, Magnus just replies, “I have no idea what you’re alluding to, darling. I may be older than most but I’ve always taken great pains to ignore the trappings of shadowhunters-- something I seem to regret more and more often these days. So-- is there a special occasion or reason for your unexpected company?”

Alec reaches for Magnus’s hand, holding it and bringing it to rest over his heart and Magnus settles down to lay his head on Alec’s chest, wriggling closer as Alec’s other hand sweeps over his back in slow strokes.

“Today’s a bit of a shadowhunter holiday. Nothing like the mundane Christmas or anything, but today’s the celebration of Raziel speaking to Jonathan Shadowhunter for the first time. Centuries ago, we would hold ornate feasts with our best clothing and it would be a week long affair. When I was in the academy, we mostly used it as an excuse to go into the neighboring village and not go to class. 

“Now that I’m the Head of the Institute and we’re all active shadowhunters, it’s one out of a handful of days that all of the Institutes shut down. It’s supposed to be for contemplation and reflection on how to improve your connection to the first shadowhunter, but people usually just take it as an excuse to go out and ignore their duties for twenty four hours.”

Processing that information, there’s only one question Magnus can think of. “But what about demons? Are you telling me that you all just leave the world defenseless for a day,” he asks, teasing lilt to his tone.

Alec chuckles. “I suppose you could think of it that way. There’s always a skeleton crew that doesn’t leave the Institute-- because they’re catching up on work or sleeping or reading in the library, etc.-- and if anything were to happen, they’d step up but usually it’s abnormally quiet during the holiday.”

Magnus tilts his head up until he can see Alec’s face. “You took tomorrow off, too?”

Alec nods, raising up to kiss the top of Magnus’s head before settling back down, eyes slipping shut as he hums. “Yeah. I’m tired and the past month has been hectic as fuck for both of us. I figured we could enjoy a couple of days relaxing and if you had work tomorrow-- or hell, today-- then I could just relax at home and catch up on my reading.”

“Or your knitting, darling. Don’t try to pretend that I don’t know that you’re trying to crochet a blanket.”

Alec smiles and Magnus watches as dull heat climbs into Alec’s cheeks, even as his eyes are still closed.

“Or my knitting project,” he admits.

Magnus closes his eyes and breathes deep, letting it out in a slow sigh. It’s not often that he gets to wake up with Alec, especially during the work week. He wants to savor this unexpected time.

The two of them shuffle a little, finding more comfortable positions. After a few minutes, Magnus feels himself about to drop off when Alec speaks.

“Let’s sleep for a little while longer and then I’ll make breakfast and then we can spend the day together. How does that sound,” he asks, voice already sounding like he’s mostly asleep.

“Perfect, darling,” Magnus mumbles.

The last thing he hears before drifting off is Alec whispering, “I love sharing my world with you, babe. I want to tell you everything.”

Smiling barely gracing the corners of his lips, Magnus has just enough time to think _me, too, Alexander. I want to show you the world._

**Author's Note:**

> Catch me on tumblr @carmenlire!


End file.
